P&Q’s Must Reads: High & Low MBA Salaries & Bonuses At The Top 100 U.S. B-Schools

Hello everyone  — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events. 

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it.  

No. 1: High & Low MBA Salaries & Bonuses At The Top 100 U.S. B-Schools 

If a big payday is the big motivator for pursing an MBA, the M7s are still showing the money, at least according to U.S. News & World Report data released along with its 2026 ranking of MBA programs. 

In fact, looking at averages for all M7 graduates from the class of 2025, the lowest average salary went to grads from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management at $167,151, which was the ninth highest average in the U.S. news ranking.  

The payday party of the big elite U.S. business schools holds true despite a tougher job market for both offers and salaries at tiers below the M7s. 

In this story, we pulled U.S. News’ salary and signing bonus data for the top 100 U.S. business schools. You can find it on our homepage. 

No. 2: Shutdown Of MIT Sloan Management Review Marks A Turning Point For Business Thinking 

Rita McGrath, a professor at Columbia Business School and one of the world’s most-cited strategy scholars, says Dean Richard Locke’s decision to close the storied journal signals a disturbing disruption in how management ideas reach the people who need them most. 

McGrath, an advisory board member for the journal, spoke to Poets&Quants for the upcoming closure, and you can read the story from our news tab. 

No. 3: Harvard Calls On Its B-School To Help Plug University’s Budget Gap  

It’s an open secret in higher education: business schools are among the biggest cash cows on any university campus. So when Harvard University’s finances began buckling under federal funding cuts and endowment pressures last year, it turned, predictably, to Harvard Business School. 

According to The Harvard Crimson, which obtained notes from a November 2025 internal presentation, Harvard asked HBS to raise its surplus contribution to the university’s consolidated operating results for fiscal year 2026 – a target that climbed over the summer from roughly $60 million to $82 million. A subsequent April presentation projected a university target of $97 million for fiscal year 2027. 

Read the full story now, in our trending tab. 

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of News You Can Use 

No matter where you are in your B-school journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week. 

First up: 2026-2027 MBA Admissions Events: A School-By-School List: This list collects the information and meetup events at all the major business schools, just in time to prepare for admission season. Find it on our homepage.  

Next: One-Third Of This MBA Admissions Firm’s Clients Got Into Harvard, Stanford Or Wharton In 2026: Get the name of the firm and their valuable admission advice by clicking on our admissions hub. 

Finally, The MBA Applicant’s Guide To AI In 2026: AI is now part of every MBA applicant’s world. Candidates are using it to brainstorm, to draft, and increasingly to submit work that lands directly on admissions committees’ desks. This guide will tell you what’s allowed, what’s risky, and what you should avoid. You’ll find in on our homepage. 

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap.  

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.  

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening. 

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